Management decision-making: The influence of stereotypically gendered personality types and situational manipulation

Although the concepts of agency, communion, and psychological androgyny have been of ongoing interest in the psychology and management literature, little empirical research has been done on the preferred behavioral style of androgynous individuals. Sandra Bem (1974) was interested in the flexibility of these individuals and their ability to behave in masculine (agentic) or feminine (communal) ways, depending on the situational appropriateness of the behaviors. In her research, Bem found that androgynous individuals are more flexible than non-androgynous individuals because their behavior is not constricted by any prescribed gender role. Following these findings, Bem further argued that androgynous individuals may even be able to blend agency and communion into a single act. Although this observation is interesting, little research has examined whether it is valid or whether it can be supported empirically (Bem, 1976).;To tease out the psychological processes that underlie the phenomenon of blending agency and communion, this study examined the preferred behavioral style of androgynous individuals regardless of gender. Rather than manipulating the situation and measuring the ability of androgynous individuals to respond either agentically or communally, the study allowed the androgynous individuals to choose how to respond when either an agentic or an androgynous (both agentic and communal) response was sufficient for successful management decision-making.;In addition, a priming task was included in the experiment to determine any effects of situational influences on behavior. Specifically, we made agentic or communal information temporarily accessible. By manipulating the availability of accessible information, we ascertained the effects of the construct on behavior.;The findings from this research regarding the impact of sex-typed traits on behavior are noteworthy, although preliminary. First, individuals with androgynous traits were found to be significantly different from those with masculine traits. Second, individuals with androgynous traits were more communal than those with masculine traits. Third, individuals with androgynous traits responded equally agentic as individuals with masculine traits. Overall, individuals with androgynous traits are unique in the workplace in that they are more communal than individuals with masculine traits. Contrary to what was expected, androgynous individuals were not affected by the priming task.